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THE COMPANION- all-transistor personal radio "Magnatronic" chassis gives super-se- lective long-distance reception-re- markable tonal quality. In two-tone colors complete with battery, $64.50. the magnificent _,n.vox television . radios . phonographs latest craze! The trouble IS that people lIsten to too much canned music now- adays. In RIchard Wagner)s time, the violInIsts used gut strings, which pro- duced fewer overtones than today's steel strings, and yet Richard Wagner, who knew plenty about acoustics, was perfectl} satisfied. Some people around here are talking about changing the posi- tion of the first violins. Well, Richard Wagner put them where they are now, and he knew what he was doing As far as I'm concerned, they're going to stay right where they are." A phone on the podium rang. Keil- berth picked up the receiver, nodded re- signedly, and told the memhers of the orchestra to resume their places. Musi- cians who have to rehearse long hours usuall} grumble-and ver} expressively-but I didn't hear a murmur from these men. I asked a double-bass player about this interesting phenomenon "It could only happen here," he said. "It's what they call the miracle of Bayreuth. Of course, it couldn't go on forever. The best thing about Bayreuth is that it lasts only two months-a month of rehearsal, a month of FestIval. We couldn't keep up this pace any longer than that." Keilberth pushed his hair back and raised his baton. His downbeat was followed by a crashing fortissimo that made me jump. The brassy clamor was amplified a hundred times by the walls of the pIt, and it seemed InconceIvable that this horrible racket should emerge in the auditorium as pure tonal beauty. I hastI- ly left the pit. It was high time to leave Bayreuth, too, if I wanted to get to Hof that evening, hut I was fascinated by what the double-bass player called the mIracle of Bayreuth, and I decided to star over- night. I wandered around backstage for a while, listening to the sounds from re- hearsal rooms and watching makeup artists repair the foam-rubber wigs of the giants in "Rheingold," and then, when the orchestra rehearsal was over, I stood in the wings and watched an- other rehearsa] of "Rheingold" -just for the lighting staff, this time. The cur- tain was up, and from the projection booths in the rear of the dark auditorium came the waters of the Rhine. Then I heard Wieland Wagner's voice, distort- ed by the mIcrophone. "Herr Meyer, the other cathedral glass. Diffuse a little toward the outside. More Blue Number Two. Still more. Now, fade in with green." The waters changed from blue to blue-green, and at last Wieland said, "All right, that's it. Note the position." N ear me, in the darkness, was a slim A.VCiVST I 8, I 9 5 b shadow that turned out to be Herr Klebe We watched as a man on the stage made a rotating movement with a flashlight and shouted, "N oted, Herr Wieland! " "That's Paul Eberhardt," Klebe whispered. "He's our technical adviser on lighting and WIeland Wagner's right-hand man." I whispered that the whole rehearsal was incomprehensible to me, and he said that later Eberhardt might have a few mInutes to tell me about the light- ing system. As the scene shifted from the river to the clouds and the moun- taintop, Wieland talked steadily. "Let's put on more cloud, Herr John. No, that's too much cloud. No, that's no good eIther. Try a small blue cathedral glass. Not so fast! Now, breathe slowly with the glass. Once more. That's it! W rite that down! " Finally, Wieland asked Eber- hardt to stand where Alberich's under- ground cave was to be, and then said, "Stoop down, will you, Paul? What lIght are you in?" "Green Number Two, Herr Wie- Ian d." "More green, on both sides Still more. Now turn on the steam." Clouds of pale-green vapor that seemed to come from the center of the earth swirled about Eberhardt, and I thought it was a fine effect, but Vlie- land said, "We haven't got that rIght. Too thin" He kept his staff at it until Eberhardt was completely enveloped in the clouds of vapor. When the rehearsal W3:S over, Klebe called out to Eberhardt, and he éame over and joined us. He is a sturdy man with grayish hair, and he was wearing a velvet suit. He carried a score under his arm. When he spoke, he gesticulated with his flashlight. I asked him how he and WIeland managed to blend perfect sound and vision, color and music, with such remarkable precision. "We have all the resources, and there wouldn't be any excuse for not getting it right," he said. Bayreuth's lighting system, he added, was installed after the war, when the Wagner broth- ers ordered a complete overhauling of the stage machinery. irst of all, there is the new cyclorama, the arched sur- face onto which water and flames and clouds and castles are projected, with a surface of 1 7 ,215 square feet-large enough for a Valhalla on the most grandiose scale. Then, above the stage, there is a large apparatus, called "the organ," which controls hundreds of lights, of all kinds, colors, and inten- sities Finally, in the rear of the audItorI- f' f " '..